I have been a beader for about 50 years, ever since I was a little girl and discovered the beauty of what a rough stone looks like polished. Nice beads weren't for little kids tho, so I had to have patience until I was old enough to buy the "good beads", meanwhile I learned how to do different techniques. After winning third, first and then second place in the difficult Fine Arts Dept division at the county fair, I decided I'd finally managed to be good enough to open my etsy shop!
My joy is in creating OOAK unique Art jewelry, I collect stones that want to tell a story, and I draw out a design for the story. Usually during the beading process the story changes, evolves into something magical and the story comes to life.
The stones seem to be re-telling their story. The one necklace not made around a stone is the Toucan one, I saw the glass pendant at the store, and immediately KNEW it had to be a toucan's beak, which was perfect as the Fair's theme that year was "Jungle of Fun".